OutKast have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. See the highlights below.
Back in April, it was announced that the hip-hop duo were set to be inducted alongside names including The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper and Soundgarden. At last night’s (November 8) ceremony, André 3000 and Big Boi were introduced by Donald Glover, who told the crowd that he grew up listening to OutKast in Atlanta, inspiring his work as Childish Gambino.
“Big Boi and André, I want to personally, thank you. Around the time ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below’ came out, I wrote a letter from college to my brother, and I said, ‘I had a dream that we wrote a show together,’” said Glover in his speech, referencing his show Atlanta.
“Thank you for showing me that brothers may not always see eye to eye and their philosophies or styles, but they need each other in a world that would rather see them both fail together,” he continued.
“Atlanta is not the music Mecca it has become without you. There is no Childish Gambino without you. There is no South without you.”
“Outkast seemed to effortlessly explore what could be” — @donaldglover officially inducts Atlanta legends @Outkast into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with a speech that proves, once again, that “the South’s got something to say.”#RockHall2025 pic.twitter.com/EDCnWbROGr
— Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (@rockhall) November 9, 2025
During the duo’s acceptance speech, André 3000 said: “A lot of times it’s a lot more than just the notes or the instruments that you playing. It’s everybody that’s around you. It’s the family, and this is my family.”
“It’s the wives, it’s the girlfriends, it’s the girl you broke up with that pissed you off and made you write a song,” he continued. “All of that is important. It has a lot to do with the bands that were out at the same time that influenced us, all the rappers that were out, from Busta Rhymes to Missy [Elliot] to Nas to Wu-Tang [Clan] and then even before, we got Kilo [Ali], we got Raheem the Dream. We were watching dancers in Atlanta. Those were our heroes growing up.”
He went on to reference his fellow 2025 inductee Jack White. “Man, he’s one of my favourites. Man, we love you. He said something about little rooms, and we started…” André 3000 said before choking up. “Great things start in little rooms.”
“Great things start in little rooms. We started in a little room.” — André 3000 and @BigBoi accept @Outkast’s Induction into the Rock & Roll of Fame.#RockHall2025 pic.twitter.com/lYI8xjENLB
— Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (@rockhall) November 9, 2025
After their induction, Doja Cat, Killer Mike, J.I.D., Tyler, the Creator, and Janelle Monáe joined Big Boi (but not André) for a medley of the duo’s classic hits, including ‘ATLiens’, ‘Ms. Jackson’, ‘B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)’ and ‘Hey Ya!’.
.@JanelleMonae showed us how to shake it, shake, shake it with an incredible performance of one of @Outkast‘s biggest hits “Hey Ya!”#RockHall2025 pic.twitter.com/2vhs21fB43
— Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (@rockhall) November 9, 2025
Last December, André 3000 said that OutKast were “further away” from making new music together “than we’ve ever been”.
“I’ll say maybe 10, 15 years ago, in my mind, I thought an OutKast album would happen,” he said. “I don’t know the future, but I can say that we’re further away from it than we’ve ever been.”
“It’s hard for me to make a rap, period, you know? And sometimes I’m in the belief of, ‘Let things be’”, he told Rolling Stone.
He continued: “[OutKast] was a great time in life, and our chemistry was at a certain place that was undeniable,” he said, brushing against the notion that “something has to last forever”.
In May this year, he released a surprise solo EP ‘7 Piano Sketches’, a series of improvisations on piano mostly recorded at a house in Texas.
